The sixth-ranked Princeton open rowing team finished its Ivy League season and retained the Class of 1984 Plaque with wins over Dartmouth and Penn Saturday morning on Lake Carnegie. The Tigers, who also added a victory over Tennessee, moved to 8-1 on the season and will close the regular season next weekend at home against Michigan.

Unlike the rest of the Cup races during the season, the Class of 1984 Plaque is based on the combined finishes of the varsity eight, second varsity and varsity four. The varsity eight was impressive in victory, winning in 6:24.2, nearly 15 seconds faster than anybody in the field.

The second varsity won its race in 6:39.8, which was 6.5 seconds faster than second-place Dartmouth. For the Tiger 2V, it capped a perfect Ivy League regular season; after a season-opening loss to NCAA runner-up Ohio State, the Princeton 2V has won eight straight races.

"We are a tough boat and have a lot of really fiesty and competitive athletes, some of which raced in the 2V last year," said sophomore Faith Richardson. "We also have an extremely talented stroke seat and great senior leadership, which has played a huge role in our boat speed and improvement this season."

The varsity four had a tight race against Penn, but it earned a victory in 7:39.7, while Penn took second in 7:41.8. Princeton topped both Dartmouth and Tennessee by more than 10 seconds.

The Princeton 3V (7:03.1) and 4B (7:41.2) also earned wins for a Tiger team that was finally back on Lake Carnegie after three weeks on the road.

Princeton will be challenged at home once again next weekend, as it hosts reigning NCAA runner-up Michigan during a full Saturday morning/afternoon of home racing. It will be a good test for the Tiger 2V, which will take on one of the nation's best.

"We are definitely really pumped to see what we can do next weekend against michigan, who was the NCAA 2V champions last year and that should be a great race to have before going into Ivy Sprints," Richardson said. "Last year Sprints was a great race and a real gut test because everyone out there is really gunning for the win, so I think we are all really pumped to get after it in these next few weeks and get some serious speed."